Cattle guard



J. BUTLER.

CATTLE GUARD. PPILICATION FILED DEC. I7, 1921.

Patented Nov. 14, 1922.

Patented Nov. 14, 1922.

parte?.

Jar/ins Borana, or animaron, MONTANA.

CATTLE GUARD.

Application filed December 17, 1921.` Serial" No. 523,214.

This invention relates toi'cattle guards7 and particularlyY to an animal operated or actuated guard, capable of being moved by the weight of the animal approaching the guard, it being the purpose of the inventor that the guard blades or; pickets shall lie in an inclined position'with their ends approximately on the plane of the rails of the track, the said pickets to be elevated through operating means actuated by the weight of the animal approaching the guard. lt is furthermore an object of this invention to produce a device of this character in which the front guard is provided with a supplemental guard or extension which nor.- mally standsvertically in the path of travel of an approaching animal, the said supplemental guard being always in operative position, unless the main guard has been moved to stop the passage of the animal.

A still further object of this invention is to provide a cattle guard of the character indicated which can be readily dismantled for the purpose of affording opportunity for the renewal of rails or cross ties with-. out seriously disturbing the guard.

With the foregoing and other objects in view, the invention consists in the details of construction, and in the arrangement and combination of parts to be hereinafter more fully set forth and claimed.

In describing the invention in detail, reference will be had to the accompanying y drawings forming part of this application wherein like characters denote corresponding parts in the several views, and in which- A Figure 1 illustrates a top plan view of a guard embodying the invention;

Figure 2 illustrates a side elevation thereof; and v Figure 3 illust-rated an enlarged detailed sectional view of the said device.

In these drawings there is illustrated a rectangular frame comprising the side 5, end sills 6 and 7, and a removable side 8 which is apertured to receive the projections 9 from the end sills, the said side member 8 being heldv in place by pins 1Q,

as fully shown in vthe drawing. The purpose of permitting the removal of the side element 8 is to permit the removal of the cross ties without otherwise disturbing the cattle guard.

lotatable elements in the nature of shaft 1l have their ends mounted in the side elements 5 and 8 and are designed to rotate 'at-,quarter turn, more or less, to fcarry tle guard blades or pickets 12 to different posiions of adjustment, as shown by the full and dotted line positions in Fig. 3.

As shown in Fig. 2, the ends of the pickets or blades are approximately on the plane of the upper surface of the rail when the guards are down, wheras they swing upwardly above the edges of the rail when the shafts are partially rotated under the influence of the means to be presently described.

Thrust or sliding bars 13 rest on the upper surfaces of the cross ties 14 and these thrust bars move with respect to the rectangular frame. A plurality of pins or anchoring elements 15 are carried by each bar 13, to which the straps or iieXible elements 16 are anchored, each of the said Straps or flexible elements having its opposite end partially embracing a shaft 11, in order that when the thrust bar is reciprocated, it will serve to partially rotate the shafts, as will bei apparent from an inspec-- tion of the drawing.

The thrust bars are moved under the inuence of the levers 17, each of which is pivoted to a bracket 18 anchored to one of the cross ties, and one end of each of the said levers is connected to a thrust bar, preferably by a pivot such as 19. A pla-nk or platform 2O is attached to the end of the lever remote from the thrust bar, and this lever is preferably curved upwardly to form an anchorage 21 for the platform.

The full line position of the parts as they are shown in Fig. 3 illustrates the device in its normal position prior to its having been operated by the weight of an approaching animal, whereas the dotted line positions of the parts illustrate their positions when the platform has been depressed by the weight of an animal.

The bla-des or pickets 22 normally stand vertically, whereas the blades or pickets 12 normally lie in an inclined position, as heretofore described, the blades or pickets 22 llO constituting guards Which Will prevent the passage of animals, should they fail to actuate the mechanism by stepping on the plank or platform 20.

It Will be understood that pickets 22 are carried by only one of the shafts 11 and that the weight of this single set of pickets 22,

When they assume the position shown in dotted lines in Fig. 3, Will not be suiiicient to overcome the tendency of the device to assume normal position When the Weight of an animal is removed from the platform 20.

A device constructed in accordance With thlis invention Will prove inexpensive to maintain and will be efficient in operation.

I claim:

1. In a cattle guard, a rectangular frame having a removable side, shafts journaled in the said side7 guard blades projecting.

from the said shafts, thrust bars in operative relation to the shafts,.flexible elements connected to the thrust bars and partially embracing the shafts whereby the motion of the thrust bars is communicated to the shafts, levers pivotally mounted in operative relation to the thrust bars, means for pivotally connecting the levers to the thrust bars, and a platform carried by the said levers at the ends remote from the ends connected to the thrust bars.

2. In a cattle gua-rd, a frame, shafts rotatable therein, guard blades extending normally upward from one of the shafts7 guard blades normally lying diagonal carried by other of the said shafts, means for partially rotating the shafts, and an animal actuated element for moving the said means;

JAMES BUTLER. 

